


Underwater

by kimjoongie



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:22:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27422650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimjoongie/pseuds/kimjoongie
Summary: An unsub in Alexandria, Minnesota wasn’t targeting its victims randomly. He chose them because they had something in common, something you shared with them. Before he targeted them, he was watching his victims, making sure that they were right for them. Was he watching you already? Knowing that you shared the same feature as all the other victims he killed? And could the team keep you safe before it was too late?
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	Underwater

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language ♡

Homicides in Alexandria, Minnesota brought the APD to their limits. People were found dead in different places. All of the victims got strangled but the women also got sexually assaulted before they were stabbed. The man instead got only stabbed and strangled. But no sexual assault was found. Due to the fact that the APD couldn’t find anything that could connect these crimes to one another, the Chief of the Alexandria Police Department called Agent Jennifer Jareau for help.

JJ walked into the bullpen and looked at her team members. “We’ve got a new case. I meet you in the conference room.” She walked ahead into the conference room, passing Hotch’s office nodding to him that there was a new case. Hotch was the first one arriving, followed by Morgan, Prentiss, Reid and you. Dave would meet you on the plane when he had finished his current case in Hampton. 

“In Alexandra, Minnesota people were killed within a seven-day range. The first victims were Lucia Peterson and her husband Mirko Peterson. They were coming home from their trip to Peru. When they entered the house, the unsub surprised them. The police confirmed that the unsub stabbed the man first. He took his time with the female victims,” JJ explained. 

“Why did they call us?” you wondered.

“Because three other murderers happened in the last few weeks. All have the same MO. The man gets stabbed first, the woman gets sexually assaulted, strangled and then stabbed. Medical reports say that the man got strangled post-mortem.” JJ explained, showing pictures of more victims. “The recent victims were Patricia Richards and Felix Mitchell. Compared to the other victims they weren’t married.” JJ finished.

“We can exclude that the unsub targets married couples. The first kills were probably randomly married. He doesn’t care about that. There must be another connection.” you said. 

“Alright, wheels up in thirty,” Hotch said sternly and left the table and room. You looked after Hotch because he was quieter than he used to be.

Morgan sighed. “Come on, baby girl,” Morgan said to you and you got up, following Morgan and the rest of the team. 

On the plane, you sat next to Morgan, across from Prentiss and Hotch. Reid and Dave sat on the side, looking at you. JJ and Garcia were still in Virginia, communicating with you over the webcam.

“What do we know about the victims?” Hotch looked into the files. You watched him, looking over the files. Normally, he would glance at you from time to time, but right now he avoided you completely. 

“He has a sign of remorse.” You suddenly stated, looking at the files. Your voice made Hotch look up as if he had only noticed you now. 

“How so? There are no signs?” Morgan said, confused.

“There is. Look closely. The women’s hair are brushed, and their bodies are cleaned. None of the victims had any blood left on their bodies, except on their clothing.” you explained while showing it on the photos. 

“(Y/L/N) is right. He shows remorse. But why kill them in the first place?” Hotch looked through the files again. 

“It can’t be their lifestyle. The families were too different for that,” you said. “Lucia and Mirko Peters were in their mid-thirties, she was a bank clerk while he was a craftsman in a local construction team. Paula and Rico Orwell, the second couple that got murdered were in their mid-forties. Paula was a teacher and Rico was a fireman. There is no way they were connected in their private life. There must be something else we miss.” you studied the photos.

“Morgan, Reid, you go over the files in the PD. See if there is any connection between their lives like houses, localisations, anything.” Hotch ordered. “Prentiss and (Y/L/N) you go to the newest crime scene, see if you can find anything the police might have missed. Dave and I talk to the family if they might know something.” Hotch finished.

When Hotch said he paired with Dave and you were paired with Prentiss you were confused. Normally, it was you that followed him around. It was you and him trying to solve the case but now it felt like he tried everything to stay away from you. And it must be something that you’ve done but you couldn’t put your head around it. What that something might be.

Arriving in Alexandria, you and Prentiss went over the crime scene again, searching for something that the police might have missed.

“What is it between you and Hotch?” Prentiss suddenly asked while examining something on a desk.

“What do you mean?” you asked back, not knowing what exactly she meant. There was never something between you and Hotch. Only superior and inferior. Boss and agent. Sure, you had a great time on cases and you even made him laugh sometimes, but it was nothing special as he was now ignoring you. 

“Don’t play dumb, (Y/N). Normally you go together.” Prentiss responded.

“You have to ask that Hotch. Because honestly, I have no clue,” you explained. It was the truth, the change in his behaviour was something you didn’t understand. 

“Here is nothing that could help us with the case,” Emily admitted frustrated. “Let us head back to the PD, see if Reid and Morgan have found anything,” Emily suggested, walking back to the car.

You and Emily arrived at the same time as Hotch and Dave. They stopped as you arrived and looked expectantly at you. Hotch was more looking at Prentiss than at you. It started to piss you off that he kept ignoring you for no particular reason.

“Found anything?” Dave asked.

“No, there is nothing that could help us. All we know is that the unsub is organised. He doesn’t leave much evidence.” you explained to Dave. Then you walked past Aaron into the PD. If he wanted to ignore you, then alright.

In the PD, Morgan and Reid went over the map and their faces looked frustrated. “It can’t be that there is no victimology. I mean there has to be a reason why he was targeting these couples.” Morgan sighed, looking at the victims’ faces.

You walked over to them and saw the couples faces on the board for the first time. In the plane, you only saw the dead bodies. “Guys, it is right in front of us,” you exclaimed, staring at the pictures. You felt the team staring at you. “The women, that are the targets. Let’s say the men are just at the right place, at the wrong time.” you turned around to the team, who looked confused. “All of the women have dyed hair. Look at them. All of them are naturally (y/h/c) but dyed them like this.” 

“How do you know they are naturally (y/h/c)?” Morgan wondered.

“The hairline on the pictures indicate that. They have another colour,” you explained.

“That is what I call observant.” Morgan admired you. “And if you saw this, how are we lurking the unsub to us?” 

“With me,” you suggested. 

“No way,” Hotch said coldly and looked sternly at you.

“Hotch, I am naturally (y/h/c) and I dyed my hair as well. I can lurk him to us with a press conference,” you explained calmly. 

“Do it. If you think it is right.” He walked away, shaking his head. 

Dave looked after him, confused about his behaviour. “Don’t take it personally, kid. He is afraid something will happen to you.” Dave stated.

“Afraid something happens to me, or to his reputation as a unit chief?” you snapped. “Never mind.” you shook your head and left to prepare yourself for the press conference.

After the press conference was held you waited for him to contact you. Garcia called you over the webcam, explaining that there was a man who had lost his girlfriend around the time the first murderers started. 

“That could have been the stressor.” Morgan realised. “But why kill them?” 

“Reliving his loss?” you clarified. “Garcia? Can you find a picture of his girlfriend somewhere? I need an older picture and a new picture.” 

“Of course,” Garcia said, typing on her keyboard. “Alright, Juliette Davidson. She is -” Garcia stopped.

“Naturally (y/h/c) but dyed hair?” you finished. 

“Yes.” Garcia agreed.

“That is our guy,” you said before your phone rang. You accepted the call and found yourself on the same line as the unsub. Garcia instantly started to search where the call came from.

“You weren’t right about me in the conference.” he glared through gritted teeth. “I loved these women. But they were leaving me.” the unsub added.

“They were innocent women, Curt,” you answered. 

“I loved them, but they needed to go. They were cheating on me.” He kept murmuring. You weren’t sure if he said it to you or to himself. 

“Curt, they weren’t cheating. Those women had nothing to do with you.” you calmly responded.

“You will regret that Agent (Y/L/N), you will regret it.” he ended the phone call.

“Alright, he is at the docks. I will send you the coordinates.” Garcia said.

Arriving at the docks, Aaron and Dave walked around the right side while you and Morgan walked around the left side. But suddenly Morgan and your path split, and you both had to go separate ways. Gun held up you were looking for the unsub. You walked around and found the team on another footbridge. The water was between you. When you looked over to them you saw the unsub on the roof.

“Curt Walter, FBI, put the gun down!” you shouted which made the team point their guns to the direction you were pointing at.

“I told you, Agent. You will regret this.” Cur smirked, as a shot was released. 

Before any of the team could react the bullet hit you and sent you flying into the water. The last thing you heard was someone shouting your name before the water swallowed you completely. You had no idea how deep the water was, but as you tried to move you felt the pain shooting through you. The last thing you saw before you lost consciousness was someone jumping into the water.

Aaron heard the gunshot and looked back to you. He saw you letting your gun fall to the floor as your body was pushed back into the water. (Y/N)!!” Aaron shouted, starting to run around the building to reach the place where you just disappeared into the water. He jumped into the water and dived after you. He saw your body floating lifeless in the water. He grabbed your body and swam back up to the surface. He lifted you up onto the footbridge and started CPR as he saw you were not breathing. 

“Come on, don’t you dare die on me!” Aaron begged, continuing the chest compression.

Morgan arrived next to them. “Curt Walker is dead.” he knelt down next to your body and looked at you. “Come on, baby girl. Fight. Paramedics are on their way.” 

Aaron didn’t hear what Derek said, all he saw was your lifeless body in front of him. “Come on!!!” he shouted. “I can’t lose you!” Aaron continued with CPR and took your nose and blew some air into your mouth, hoping the water would come out. But nothing happened.

The paramedics arrived and took over, trying their best to bring you back to life. Dave walked up to Aaron who just stared at you while the paramedics worked on you. “Aaron?” Dave put a hand on his shoulder. 

“I should have told her. I should have told her that I fell in love with her instead of ignoring her.” Aaron sighed. “I should stop following protocol when it comes to people I love,” Aaron added.

“Maybe we should all stop following protocol when it comes to that,” Dave responded. “Go on, drive with them, we meet you in the hospital.” Dave hit his back gently, pushing him towards the ambulance. 

In the hospital, you slowly woke up and the light blinded you. But you felt a hand on your cheek, stroking your hair out of your face. As your eyes accustomed to the light, you saw Aaron’s brown eyes, looking down at you. Nothing was left from the grumpy and ignorant Aaron, instead, it was replaced with a caring and worried Aaron. 

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Aaron stroked your cheek.

“Tired, but okay,” you answered with a hoarse voice. “Is he -” 

“Dead? Yes.” Aaron interrupted you, kissing your forehead. “You scared me, (Y/N),” Aaron admitted.

“Why’d you care?” you remembered how he had ignored you the whole time.

“Because I love you. I fell in love with you and I was afraid because whenever I started to fall in love again something bad happened. And I can’t bear to lose you too, (Y/N).” Aaron admitted.

“You didn’t lose the people because you loved them, Aaron. You lost them because of sick serial killers who thought they could win.” you gave his hand a squeeze.

“I know. But I was still so afraid that someone could take you away from me. I knew I shouldn’t have ignored you, I realised it the moment I saw you fall into the water. 

“It was you who shouted my name, it was you jumping into the water, right?” you remembered the last thing you heard and saw before you fell unconscious.

“Yes, that was me. And it was the worst moment of my life. Next time, I will be by your side, making sure that something like this will never happen again.” Aaron stroked your cheek again.

“I love you too, Aaron. And nothing that happened to Hailey, or Beth or me had anything to do with your feelings,” you explained.

Aaron nodded and leaned down looking into your eyes. “Can I kiss you?” 

“You don’t have to ask me, Aaron.” you smiled and leaned your head to the side as Aaron leaned down. And when your lips touched, you never thought it would feel this great. 


End file.
